I gotta fess up. I'm done, too:) With plenty of time left to fret and second-guess. I think I dud good! I like vibed with my partner! I think...I don't know...I'm scared...tapping fingers on table. Get this? I did most of my Christmas shopping on line so I smugly shopped knowing I had a plethora of perfect boxes, with packing and everything, waiting for me in the garage. Oh, the joy. So, I go down to access the situation and they are all gone! He got rid of them! Mind you, I told him when I put them in there that these would make great boxes to mail things! He even got rid of the packing materials! Messing up his garage! Can I add that I bought like the biggest thing ever ? Shaun, I'm still waiting. You could of at least sprung for airfare for froggy:)

We have a few addicts in our family. You probably know these things, but in case you don't... The first things drugs do is destroy a person's conscience. Right and wrong mean nothing to an addict--they only care about finding the money for their next fix. Addicts lie. MOST of the time. NO ONE can 'fix' an addict or their relationship with one. As long as you're trying to help him (paying for life's essentials, letting him get away with abusing you, etc), YOU are keeping him an addict. Most addicts really don't change. The few who do usually do so only after they've totally hit rock bottom. Helping him as you are, is keeping him from deciding to get the real help he needs. Look, as the others have said, YOU cannot fix this problem. All you really can do is save yourself. Get out. Take some time to heal, and find a real man, who truly loves you, and won't abuse you physically, verbally and financially. And just in case those words don't help you make up your mind--are you prepared to go to jail for this man? If the police find drugs in the car while YOU'RE driving it, YOU could be charged with the crime. And do you really believe this guy would step up and claim ownership of them to get you out of trouble? I doubt it. Whatever else you decide to do, please start squirrelling money away for the legal fees you no doubt will be paying sometime in the future, because one or the other of you will probably need to be bailed out and defended at some point

Lyban, I'm sorry!! I absolutely love the floors, though I'm already wishing we'd sealed them (I think this will pass as I add furniture, rugs, etc). Unfortunately none of the pictures are very good so far, but here are some anyway. So, approaching hte basement, before you'd have seen really nasty old linoleum with dirt ground in and shiny dirty-looking paint Now you see fresh flat white paint and new charcoal carpet. The new basement floor is visible, but pretend you don't see that yet! Walking into the basement, before there were dirty dark shiny paneled walls (I don't even have any pictures of those), a moldy old dropped ceiling, flourescent lights above gross old panels, and dark brown vinyl tiles that were releasing from years of neglect. This represents a halfway picture, with older paint, the dropped ceiling removed, and new lighting. Then we painted the ceiling flat black (the subject of this thread, of course!), painted the walls bright flat white, and replaced the flooring with diamond-set white and grey vinyl tiles (the commercial stuff by Armstrong). The pictures of the new floor aren't very good...we don't have any of the new furniture we're planning to get and frankly I'm not even sure what I want. So I am definitely open to decorating ideas...I'm thinking charcoal couch, huge area rug (perhaps an accent color?), and a loveseat or additional chairs. Even now, as I sit here, we've placed some of the furniture--TV, our one chair, and the exercise stuff, but I dare not take pictures because DH finally has his TV back after almost 1.5 months! Laundry room main living area, with furniture all pushed to the middle (this was right after installation) To sum up, this is what's happened over the last 6-7 weeks: 1. ripped out old/moldy/disintegrating/incompletely installed dropped ceiling 2. installed can lights (removed old, in some cases nonfunctional, flourescent tubes) 3. painted the unfinished ceiling black (huge ordeal, involved moving almost everything upstairs and then taping off all walls and remaining items with thick plastic sheeting before renting a gigantic power paint sprayer...) 4. demolished huge, old, smelly, dusty-----but surprisingly (and unfortunately for me, the demolisher) well-built!----plywood/particleboard/pegboard/wood closets 5. ripped up nasty old floor tiles that were coming up and breaking into small pieces all over the place (thank you victoria---horrible job); we then lived with nasty black mastic for almost two weeks, until #8 happened this week. 6. Had an asbestos-wrapped copper water pipe professionally removed 7. painted old dark shiny paneled walls flat white, including the stairwell walls and ceiling. 8. installed new VCT tile and base molding, and carpeted the stairs with charcoal-colored carpet

hahahaha dotz!!!! I got that word from my mother. My housedresses are old sundresses, (some of them over 15 years old) so they're a little short or holey or inappropriate in some other way. When I get home from work, I'll throw one on to do housework. I ended up missing the exit off the freeway for the butcher so went to Costco anyway. And it wasn't busy. And it wasn't hot. And I forgot DD had an after school activity at school, so I had an extra 45 minutes and just hit the store like a fiend - with a list! Managed to get out of there only spending $150, which is a record for me. And, I must admit, $45 of that was for a bottle of Shalimar. I figured, you send me to Costco.... LOL. I've always wanted a bottle, and it's quickly becoming my favorite scent. I keep smelling my wrists. :) Oh, and DH doesn't even know I went to Costco, so he doesn't know I folded... So, the menu is: Red wine Cheese plate with crackers and meats and grapes Herb crusted lamb chops with pomegranate sauce on a bed of fresh cut corn and parsley Parmesan sprinkled Asparagus Quinoa with tiny bits of carrot and onion Blueberry tarts and vanilla ice cream I cleaned the house yesterday, got the asparagus trimmed and washed and in a glass tupperware. Sliced the cheese, washed the grapes. All I have to do today is prepare the meat, throw the quinoa and carrots and onions in the rice maker, steam the asparagus and toss it and make the blueberry tarts. And I cheated with the tarts. I bought some of those little mini crusts, pre-made. DH was grumbling that three lamb chops apiece were not enough. I laughed, I can only eat one. I know Gpa will probably only eat two. I can't believe I thought DH hated lamb all this time. He insists he loves it. Who knew??? I've cooked it and (in my memory) he always complains. And DD flat out does not like it (which I can understand, it's gamey). So..... I have to think of something to cook her, or something to go with the lamb that will match. I'll probably just do some herb crusted tofu with the pom sauce. I do a tofu side with a lot of meals I do, like teriyaki chicken... And she loves tofu. I just want to avoid the whole separate meal thing...